Melissa McCarthy

Melissa McCarthy has had one incredible year. The star of 'Mike and Molly' took home the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy, besting Edie Falco, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Laura Linney and Martha Plimpton, and received rave reviews for her scene-stealing role in the hit film 'Bridesmaids.'

"I've been up and down," McCarthy told Anderson Cooper during an appearance 'Anderson,' Cooper's daytime talk show. "I've been much thinner since my second baby. I'm still working on it. It's a work in progress."

Melissa McCarthy will always be remembered for being crowned the winner of the Best Comedy Actress Emmy this past year with a tiara and flowers, like it was a beauty pageant. For her daughter Vivian, in fact, the crown was the highlight of the night, according to McCarthy on 'Late Show' (Weeknights, 11:35PM ET on CBS).

Vivian is four-and-a-half years old, and was so excited the day after the Emmy broadcast. "Mama, last night they made you a princess," she crowed. Then she asked if she could see it. Only when McCarthy showed her the Emmy, she wasn't impressed. "No, not that," she said, according to McCarthy. "The crown!"

In an interview with 'The Early Show' (weekdays, 7AM ET on CBS) 'Mike & Molly' star Billy Gardell discussed how the CBS sitcom has rocketed his career to a new level of success. While his co-star Melissa McCarthy has had a truly epic year, winning an Emmy and starring in 'Bridesmaids,' Gardell told Mo Rocca that the show's fans have been steadily increasing the size of the crowds at his stand-up shows.

But while his comedy shows may be getting bigger in size, Gardell is decreasing in size himself. He's lost 25 pounds, or "one chin," since the show began. Gardell said that his producers were behind him in his weight-loss journey, assuring him that they would write the changes into his character's story. Even with the support, Gardell admitted that "sometimes the cake wins."

Even though the results were disappointing, this week's 'SNL' was, again, very host-centric – meaning there wasn't a ton of lead-role airtime to go around for cast members. Though, Jay Pharoah managed to get his first sketch of the season on the air, while poor Paul Brittain was nearly shut out. But who leads the poll after the second week of the season? A show hosted by 'Bridesmaids' star Melissa McCarthy? It should be no surprise that the top spot goes to...

Say what you will about the writing quality or caliber of sketches on 'Saturday Night Live' (Sat., 11:30PM ET on NBC), but there is no denying that Melissa McCarthy gave as committed a performance as we've ever seen.

In some cases, she carried the laughs almost entirely by herself. She tackled physical comedy, like throwing herself down a flight of stairs multiple times, and wasn't afraid to get dirty, like in her explosive performance in the Hidden Valley Ranch sketch.

Her character was so eager to be the best taste-tester, that at one point she exploded an entire bottle of the dressing all over her face and chest, and just kept eating it and going on. To their credit, no one broke character during this hilarious moment, which was easily a highlight of the night.

Someday Melissa McCarthy will be a good 'SNL' host. Her name will be mentioned alongside recent 'SNL' hosting phenoms like Jon Hamm and Justin Timberlake. Hell, if given some better than average material last night to back up her deliveries, we may already be mentioning her name as part of this class. Unfortunately, McCarthy did what she could with a writing staff that seemed to take the week off from writing anything interesting and, instead, just gave her a few sketches that resembled poor man's clones of 'Bridesmaids.' To be fair, this was probably to be expected with her first outing immediately following her breakthrough comedy role. But, now that this is out of the way, hopefully, next time, the writing staff will giver her more things to do than pour food on her head and have her fall down a flight of stairs. Alas, on to the scorecard...

She was announcing the nominations when her own name came up, and while she was clearly excited, it was nothing compared to her story about how she broke down crying in a furniture store after getting the call from 'SNL.'

After snagging Emmy gold for her portrayal of Molly on 'Mike & Molly' (Mon., 9:30PM ET on CBS), there's a good chance a lot of new eyes will be checking Melissa McCarthy's work on the show's Season 2 premiere. It doesn't hurt that it's airing after the rebooted 'Two and a Half Men,' coming off a record debut last week.

As expected, McCarthy is endearing and delightful, even if the show around her remains fairly standard sitcom fare. It's certainly pleasant enough, with enough fun laughs along the way. And it stays true to the characters, without avoiding the fact that they're plus-sized people.

When Mike and Molly fight, Molly resorts to pancakes to battle her frustrations. It's a struggle with food and emotions that many people can relate to, and that's part of what makes 'Mike & Molly' so believable, even when they manage to resolve all their problems in 22 minutes each week.

Melissa McCarthy was part of one of the most memorable moments of this year's Emmys, the beauty pageant sketch that broke out when the nominees for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy all rushed the stage. McCarthy told 'Early' (9AM ET on CBS) that she thought her work was done after the bit, and was so shocked after winning that she completely blacked out.

"I thought the bit worked, this was great, let's get back to our seats," McCarthy explained, before realizing that she had won. Her priceless, surprised reaction was memorable for viewers, but not for her. She said the moment was was so surreal that she has no memory of her speech. "I had to re-watch it because I didn't remember a word I said."

The 'Mike & Molly' and 'Bridesmaids' star remains charmingly baffled by her recent run of success. "I don't know what's happening, but I like it," she joked.

This week didn't let up. Between the Emmys and the start of Fall TV, it's all kind of a blur -- but there were some moments that stood out.

The Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Emmy nominees putting on a little beauty pageant warmed our jaded hearts, Charlie Harper's death on 'Two and a Half Men' was cathartic and Sheen's speech at his Comedy Central Roast was actually ... funny.

As the week moved on, we fell hook, line and sinker for the publicity stunt that was the 'X Factor' Flasher. And the final TV scene of 'All My Children,' a bizarre cliffhanger overflowing with soapy goodness, pretty much tied the whole week together.

Check out the clips after the jump to relive the week that was, and vote for your favorite in our weekly poll.

So, how did last night's live Emmy Awards telecast fare with critics and viewers? Final ratings aren't in yet, but so far the 2011 Emmys have scored a thumbs up (with some reservations) from most critics.

'Glee' star Jane Lynch has been lauded for her hosting skills, and she kept things moving at a brisk pace on a night chock full of surprises. The Associated Press praised the high production values and said the ceremony "could have been the most satisfying in memory."

AOL TV's own Maureen Ryan called it "rather delightful," noting that "what's usually a three-hour slogfest passed by relatively quickly and mostly painlessly this time around."

'New York' magazine said that "if it wasn't as good as last year's Jimmy Fallon-hosted spectacular, it did continue a trend upheld by the recent Tonys and Grammys, of being much, much better than this past Oscars." High praise indeed!

It just may be Melissa McCarthy's year. After starring in the hit comedy flick 'Bridesmaids,' the 'Mike & Molly' actress took home her first Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series -- and it was definitely an Emmy moment to remember.

When presenters Sofia Vergara and Rob Lowe started to read out the names for the lead comedy actress nominees, they had no idea that the gang of funny ladies would rush the stage -- but that's exactly what they did.

Led by 'Parks and Recreation' star Amy Poehler, who ran up to the stage as her name was called, an equally determined McCarthy followed. Pretty soon, all of the leading funny ladies were on stage, clasping hands, in perfect beauty pageant formation.